Conference Session

Ethical Responsibilities of Engineers in the World of Corporate Business / Engineering and Poverty

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George Catalano, State University of New York-Binghamton

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

Page 12.616.9engineering education based upon the Integral Model. The most significant change thatresults from an adoption of the morally deep world view in the design methodology is thatone requirement that is specifically outlined is in the form of the following question:Has the suffering and/or injustice in the world been reduced through the completion of theproposed engineering project? If it has not, the project and solution should not go forward.If it has, the solution is morally and ethically acceptable.The asking of such a question, the insistence on such a criterion, represents an importantbroadening of the sense of responsibility that engineers have in their proposed solutions toopen-ended problems.A recent article by Singleton13

Conference Session

Teaching Ethics

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Edward Sobiesk, United States Military Academy; William Suchan, United States Military Academy; Roland Trope, United States Military Academy

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

our students internalize ethical practices.IntroductionIn a technology-enhanced classroom, professors routinely make use of various multimediadevices that display images, movie clips, animations, and other types of media readily found onthe Internet. Professors usually display these types of media without guilt, believing that theyare within the guidelines of Academic Fair Use. Students likewise use these same types ofmedia snippets in their design projects and briefings, also enjoying the false security blanket ofAcademic Fair Use. Quite often, they are both wrong. Right or wrong, though, the invocation ofAcademic Fair Use guidelines is a crutch that is rarely scrutinized. It can lead to inadvertentcopyright infringement, but more

Conference Session

Engineering and Poverty

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Legand Burge, Tuskegee University; Heshmat Aglan, Tuskegee University; Pradosh Ray, Tuskegee University; Nader Vahdat, Tuskegee University; Connie Price, Tuskegee University; Prakash Sharma, Tuskegee University; Stephen Sodeke, Tuskegee University; Vascar Harris, Tuskegee University; Gregory Murphy, Tuskegee University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

. Engineering has a direct andvital impact on the quality of life for all people. Accordingly, the services provided by engineersrequire honesty, impartiality, fairness, and equity, and must be dedicated to the protection of thepublic health, safety, and welfare. Engineers must perform under a standard of professionalbehavior that requires adherence to the highest principles of ethical conduct. When a solution canbe found it is important to contribute the innovation in technology to society.Engineering as Social ExperimentThis lecture is provided to students to emphasize that engineering is an experimental process. Atits heart, engineering is an experiment on a social scale involving human subjects. The reason isthat any engineering project is carried

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics and Global Issues

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Roobik Gharabagi, St. Louis University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

). Professional and ethical responsibilities (ABET outcome f), engineeringdesign process, and ability to design a product to meet desired needs within realisticconstraints (ABET outcome c) are introduced in a required freshmen engineering coursecalled “Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering” (EENG-101). Legal andethical aspects of engineering are further emphasized in the sophomore and juniorelectrical engineering courses. As a major part of senior year experience ECE studentsare expected to be engaged in two sixteen week senior design course sequence, Design I(EENG-490) and Design II (EENG-491). Students are expected to be involved in majorinterdisciplinary design projects. In Design I and Design II various aspects of engineeringdesign are

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics and Global Issues

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christan Whysong, Virginia Tech; Jenny Lo, Virginia Tech; Kumar Mallikarjunan, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

, associate professor of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech, is interested in improving the bioprocess curriculum using a spiral themed approach. Page 12.854.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 Improving Ethics Studies through a Spiral Themed Curriculum: Implementing Ethics Discussion at the Sophomore LevelAbstractTo enhance ethics training during the undergraduate career, engineering ethics material shouldbe presented throughout the engineering curriculum. In continuation of the Department LevelReform (DLR) project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), two departments

Conference Session

Engineering and Sustainability

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Juan Lucena, Colorado School of Mines; Carl Mitcham, Colorado School of Mines; Jon Leydens, Colorado School of Mines; Junko Munakata-Marr, Colorado School of Mines; Jay Straker, Colorado School of Mines; Marcelo Simoes, Colorado School of Mines

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

become engineers who have ability, courage, andleadership, and can solve the problems” in international development projects. Its extensivecurriculum combining engineering and international development includes courses such as“Science and Society: Writing and Analytical Skills” and “Principles of International Co-existence,” which focuses on differences in culture, climate, and legal systems. But there is noevidence the program includes the ethical dimensions of international development work(http://www.ide.titech.ac.jp/index.html).Related curricular efforts in the U.S. include Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS,Purdue University), Engineering for Developing Communities (EDC, University of Colorado-Boulder), and Humanitarian

Conference Session

Teaching Ethics

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Waleed Abulfaraj, King Abdulaziz University; Mohamed Hassan, Alexandria University, Egypt

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

meeting, assume professional society leadership positions, etc. Students must fulfill specified outreach requirements during their college career before they can graduate. 5. Place more emphasis on professionalism and ethics in a senior capstone class: Two full lectures of the senior design project are devoted to these topics. One of the lectures (in the context of engineering standards) is devoted to the role of professional societies in the development and maintenance of standards. The students are made aware of the need to become involved with the professional societies, and the importance of their service in standard-setting committees. Another lecture is devoted to the topic of ethics in

Conference Session

Engineering and Poverty

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George Catalano, State University of New York-Binghamton

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

and six Indigenous Peoples organizations, and the International Arctic ScienceCommittee (IASC) representing 18 national academies of science released its reportImpacts of a Warming Arctic in November 2004.The report establishes evidence of rapid climate change in the Arctic over the last halfcentury and projects much larger changes ahead. Global climate models use emissionsscenarios based on the anticipated greenhouse gas emissions from factors such as economicgrowth and energy consumption to project future climate outcomes. The Arctic ClimateImpact Assessment researchers selected the mid-range emissions scenario used by the 2001Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).13The trends cited in the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment are

Conference Session

Teaching Ethics

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cynthia Finelli, University of Michigan; Trevor Harding, California Polytechnic State University; Donald Carpenter, Lawrence Technological University; Matthew Mayhew, New York University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

educational initiatives on campus. Dr. Carpenter has conducted funded pedagogical research and development projects, has published numerous educational papers, and conducted faculty development workshops. He is an active member of the ERM Division of ASEE, and he received both the 2001 Apprentice Faculty Grant and the 2002 New Faculty Page 12.161.1 Fellow Award for contributions to engineering education. In 2006, the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) named Dr. Carpenter a Kern Fellow for entrepreneurial education.Matthew Mayhew, New York University© American Society for

Conference Session

Engineering and Sustainability

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brock Barry, Purdue University; Aman Yadav, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

, this provides us with a good starting point to thinkabout how cases can be effectively integrated in engineering ethics as an instructional method.ConclusionWhile case-based instruction is clearly the most commonly employed method of ethicsinstruction in the engineering curriculum, it is by no means the only method. Other methods ofintegrating ethics into the engineering curriculum include the use of external course work (e.g.,philosophy classes), service-learning projects, team-based senior design course work, and theacross the curriculum approach (integration of ethics in multiple courses throughout theacademic career). However, we know little about whether or not the use of case studies is betterthan the other methods of ethics

Conference Session

Teaching Ethics II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Freeman, Valparaiso University; Peter Johnson, Valparaiso University; Kenneth Leitch, Valparaiso University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

,share and teach one another. Interpersonal and small group skills are the social skillsrequired for people to interact. Group processing is the element that gives students timeto discuss how well they are achieving their goals. These elements help to discouragegroup members from not participating by making each team member accountable to thegroup. While cooperative learning and cooperative teams are thought of as semester-longactivities and groups, cooperative teams can be used for short-term projects like the ethicsassignment.During the Spring 2005 semester, students were assigned the group paper assignment. Page 12.847.6To prevent students from

Conference Session

Teaching Ethics II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mysore Narayanan, Miami University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

toengineering ethics.At Texas A&M University, evidence of this interest in professional ethics culminated in thecreation of a new course in engineering ethics, as well as a project funded by the NationalScience Foundation to develop material for introducing ethical issues into required undergraduateengineering courses. Case Western Reserve University has created an Online Ethics Center forEngineering and Science. University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Scienceand the Darden School of Graduate Business Administration have created a web site that isdedicated to the dissemination of engineering ethics case studies and supporting resources forstudents and faculty. The Ethics Updates site of the University of San Diego is another

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics and Global Issues

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dawn Bikowski, Ohio University; Melissa Broeckelman, Ohio University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

by developing a charter and statement offaculty responsibilities.InstitutionThe focus on integrity, teaching, and learning outlined in this paper is being emphasized in theRuss College of Engineering and Technology because of the support of the administration, whichis crucial for such projects to succeed. However, academic integrity should also be a concern andpriority for entire institutions, not just Colleges of Engineering and Technology. Because of thesituation Ohio University found itself in, many university-wide initiatives, including a universityhonor code, are being developed. Thus, it has been important to coordinate the efforts within theRuss College of Engineering and Technology and across the entire university to minimize

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics and Global Issues

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew Hoernecke, Iowa State University; Thad Gillispie, Iowa State University; Benjamin Anderson, Iowa State University; Thomas Daniels, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

environment in a malicious manner. If a student intentionally gains access to a systemwithout authorization, they could be held accountable under U.S. Law. This means pranksagainst a business or the university could result in federal charges against the student carrying upto 5 years in prison for the smallest infraction and up to 20 years for a more egregious violation.Perhaps the greatest potential risk of teaching IW would be of training professionalcybercriminals. The use of computers for identity theft, phishing and spam has resulted in astrong criminal economy. According to an FBI projection cybercrime robs U.S. businesses of$67.2 billion a year, and over the past two years U.S. consumers lost more than $8 billion toviruses, spyware and online

Conference Session

Engineering and Sustainability

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marilyn Dyrud, Oregon Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

responsibility,” which holdsmanufacturers responsible for the fate of products that are no longer useful,47 accentuates end-of-life. The “ecological footprint” approach, however, looks at a shared consumer-producerresponsibility.48 The electronics industry has an enormous ecological footprint, requiring,according to 2003 United Nations University data, the following resources for the production of asingle PC: 240 kilos of fossil fuels, 22 kilos of chemicals, 1.5 tons of water.5 Surely suchinordinate consumption cannot continue indefinitely, and our future engineers may someday holdpositions with the power to effect positive change.Classroom ActivitiesWith a projected half a billion obsolete computers in the US alone by the end of 2007,24 theissues